Chapter One
Perspectives on Human Sexuality
Group Activity
“Discussing Sex”
Using the Textbook Real-time

Identify current media
stories (newspapers,
magazines, or TV), talk
shows, or specials
relating to human
sexuality. Relate this to
the appropriate chapter
in the textbook or
lecture. How accurate is
the material?
Sexuality in Popular Culture Is
Shaped by the
Mass Media, So We Should Ask:


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What kinds of sexuality are portrayed by the
media?
What messages about sexuality are sent?
Who are the messages intended for?
What messages are ignored or avoided?
What shapes the selection by the media?
Youth, Ages 8-18. Media Use/Day
Media Time
Mass Media Portrayals of Sexuality
Occur in Multiple Forms
 Television
 Movies
 Music
 Magazines,
tabloids, books
 Hand held technology
 World Wide Web
 Advertising
Media Portrayals of Sexuality:
 Sell
products
 Produce sexual
arousal
 Increase sexual
behavior
 Provide sexual
information

Correct or incorrect ?
The Media : Keep Sexual Behavior
Visible
Media: Exploit Sexuality
Media Effects Live by:
 Keeping
sexual behavior visible
 Reinforcing sexual and relationship norms
 Including irresponsible models
Mass-media Depictions Are
Meant to Entertain, Not Inform


Rarely present reality scenarios
Perpetuate the status quo
Mass-media Depictions Are
Meant to Entertain, Not Inform
“The various media present the social context of
sexuality…” these messages “tell us what
behaviors are appropriate, with whom they
are appropriate, and why they are
appropriate”.
How do you feel about this norm?
Television
 Increasing
exposure
 Increasing sexual content
 Rare presentation of risk
 Rare presentation of responsible action
 Unrealistic presentation of sexuality
 Media reflect and reproduce stereotypical
and unequal but changing gender roles
 Influences the way men and women view
themselves
Television
 TV
is a major source of sex information for
teens
 Influences the way men and women view
themselves
 Objectification of women in skimpy
clothing – negative impact on the
development of adolescent girls in selfesteem and self image?
Television
 FCC
regulation of public airwaves
 Enforces regulations via fines
 Responds to public grievances
 Does not regulate cable
 Possibility of parental control with V-chip
technology
• Educate parents
• Allow blocking of programs based on ratings
Television Genres

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Reality Shows
Comedy series
Soap Operas
Crime/actionadventure programs
Drama series

Commercials
 Music videos
 Games
 Other
Television Genres Emphasize
Different Types of Content
Shows – Foster unrealistic
expectations, behaviors with no
consequences.
 Comedy series – Taboos
 Soap Operas – Sexual transgressions
 Crime/action – Sexual variation
 Drama series – Situations
 Reality
Television Genres Emphasize
Different Types of Content (cont.)

Commercials – Attitudes (video on Sex in Advertising
Mind Control)

Music Videos – Individual expression


Games – Exploitation & aggression

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Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music
Video (Exploitation and Aggression?)
Video games promote sexist and violent attitudes
toward women
Other – Variations

Note absence of risk or responsibility
Feature Length Films
 Sexy
content
 Nudity

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
Sexual double standard ?
Vulnerability
Rare presentations of risk or responsibility
GLBT People in the media
 Historically
absent from mainstream films
 Historically presented stereotypically


Gay man stereotype
Lesbian woman stereotype
 New
trend to present GLBT in positive
ways

New cable network LOGO
 Media
should present healthy sexual
relationships
Phone Sex : Dial-a-Porn



Commercial telephone sex lines that enable
the caller to anonymously “talk dirty” with
someone
Phone worker is paid to respond to the
caller’s fantasies
Creates a sense of “pseudo-intimacy” with the
voice
Online Sexual Activities
 Global (adult web pages online)
 Cybersex

– real-time sexual activities
Popularity due to 3A’s
• Access
• Affordability
• Anonymity
 Online
sex Web sites/chat rooms (ex.
Babblesex)
 Meet
new partners (ex. Adult Friend Finder)
Online Sexual Activities Effect on
Culture

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Crosses distance
Promotes intimacy without physical contact
Creates a new level of plasticity and expression
Positive for expression of under represented
groups
Negative if it becomes compulsive or addictive
Online Sexual Activities Effect on
Culture
 Online

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social networks
Surfing the web—major recreational activity
Easy to obtain and distribute sexual
information
Expanded ways for people to meet and
interact
Well integrated into the daily lives of young
adults
Means for displaying identity
Sexuality Across
Cultures and Times
 What
is considered “natural” varies
between cultures
• In America, kissing is considered erotic
• The Mehinaku of the Amazonian rain forest
consider kissing to be a disgusting sexual
abnormality
 Culture
molds and shapes our sexual
interests.

Culture defines how and to what degree we
should express our sexual interest.
Cultural Differences: Mangaia of
Polynesia

Adolescents (13 -14 yrs) are encouraged by
adults to experience a high level of sexual
desire:





Adolescents are instructed on how to please their
partner
Adolescent boys and girls are instructed by older
women via sexual intercourse.
A woman may leave a man who does not satisfy her
Adolescents are expected to have many sexual
experiences prior to marriage
Adulthood is marked by a decrease in sexual
desire
Cultural Differences: The Dani of
New Guinea
 Little
interest in sexuality
 Sex is used only for reproduction
 Extra relational sex and jealousy is rare
 Female orgasm is unknown
 5 year sexual abstinence between
pregnancies
Cultural Differences: Victorian
Americans

Women had
reproductive desire
rather than sexual
desire
 Women with sexual
desire classified as
suffering from
“nymphomania, or
furor uterinus”

Men were viewed as
animal like
 Men had raging,
uncontrollable sexual
appetites and their
sexual indiscretions
were expected.
Victorian Americans: Long Lasting
Effects

The polar beliefs about women and men and
sexual desire lead to the separation of “love”
and “sex”.
 Women’s responsibility to tame men’s impulses,
men could not control their sexual desires.
 This belief and system of practice began the
sexual double standard for men and women
where men are sexually aggressive and women
are sexually passive.
Sexual Orientation: The Pattern of
Sexual and Emotional Attraction
Based on the Gender of One’s
Preferred Partners

Heterosexuality: sexual and emotional
attraction between men and women
 Homosexuality: sexual and emotional
attraction between persons of the same sex
 Bisexuality: sexual and emotional attraction
between both males and females
Contemporary American Culture
 Heterosexuality
is the only sexual
orientation receiving full social and legal
legitimacy
 State by state recognition of civil unions
 Same-sex marriages do not generally
receive social accepatance.
Homosexuality,
Bisexuality, and Culture: Ancient
Greece

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In ancient Greece, homosexuality was as naturally
accepted as heterosexuality is in the US culture
today
Roles for men in Ancient Greece
 Highest form of love: Same-sex relationships
between men (older mentor and young
apprentice)
 Young men were then socialized into the
professional society of other men
 Men were also expected to be married but were
expected to have courtesans
Roles of women
 Child bearing was associated with marriage to
continue the family and society.
Homosexuality,
Bisexuality, and Culture: Sambians of
New Guinea

Sexual orientation is malleable across
lifespan, beginning with sexual activity
between boys (beginning at age 7-8),
betrothal and sexual activity with preadolescent girls, then fully involved with adult
women in adulthood
 Semen ingestion is required for a boy to grow
into a man
 Adulthood marks the end of sexual activities
between males
Gender and Culture
 Gender:

What makes a person a man or woman goes
beyond simple anatomy.
• Having male and female genitals is anatomical, but
does not necessarily make a person a “man” or
“woman”. Culture and other factors help to shape
masculinity and femininity.
• Gender is the set of culturally-influenced
characteristics associated with being male or
female
Transsexual and Transgender
Persons
 Transsexual
- Genitals and gender
identities are discordant


A person born with a penis self-identifies as a
woman
A person born with a vulva and vagina selfidentifies as a man
– Have an appearance
and behaviors that do not conform with the
gender roles ascribed to a particular sex
 Transgendered
Transsexual and Transgender
Persons
 Transgendered

These differences may involve cross-dressing
only to obtain psychosocial gratification, not
sexual gratification as seen in transvestites.
 Transsexuals
may have genitals altered
for gender congruency.
Transsexual / gender and culture:
Two spirits
 Biological
males who assume female
dress, gender role, and status
 Accepted as a “man-woman” and given
spiritual status in several cultures
worldwide
• Includes some Native American, Filipino, Lapp,
and Indian cultures
• In South Asia the third gender is known as the
hijra, and are regarded as sacred.
• Some females considered “two-spirit,” but more
rare than with males
Societal Norms and Sexuality
 Diversity

across cultures and times
Calls into question what is inherently natural
or normal
• Words like “natural,” “unnatural,” “normal,” and
“abnormal” are value judgments
• They often state how we feel about behaviors,
rather than objectively describing those behaviors
Natural Sexual Behavior

How do we decide if a sexual behavior is natural
or unnatural?
 What is natural?
 What is unnatural?

“When we label sexual behavior as “natural” or
“unnatural” we are typically indicating whether the
behavior conforms to our culture’s sexual norms. Our
norms appear natural because we have internalized
them since infancy”.
Normal Sexual Behavior


Behavior that conforms to a group’s average
or median patterns of behavior. “Although
“normal” has been described to imply
“healthy” or “moral” behavior, social scientists
use the word strictly as a statistical term.
Thus, “NORMAL sexual behavior is a
behavior that conforms to a group’s average
or median patterns of behavior.”
Normal Sexual Behavior

Many people feel pressure to behave like the
statistical norm
 Ironically, most of us actually don’t know how
others behave sexually

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Most people do not talk about their sexual activities,
especially those that they perceive as being outside
the norm.
If people do talk, they talk about behaviors that
comply to the “norm”.
Thus, the “conventional” self masks actual feelings,
attitudes, and sexual behaviors.
Normal Sexual Behavior
A
comparison of “normal” sexual behavior
in one culture would be considered
“abnormal” by another.
 There is one concordant belief across
most cultures that reproduction between
men and women is essential.
Sexual Behaviors and
Variations
 Researchers
view human sexuality as
characterized by sexual variation, i.e.
sexual variety and diversity
 Understand sexual activities as existing on
a continuum of frequency and behavior
 People’s activities can be typical or
atypical of the group average—does not
necessarily indicate deviance
Sexual Behaviors and
Variations
 Many
activities thought of as “deviant” are
engaged in by most of us to some degree:

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Exhibitionism
Voyeurism
Fetishism
Sexual Behaviors and
Variations

Standards for evaluating sexual behavior do
exist
 Many sexual behaviors are harmful to oneself

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Masturbatory asphyxia
Rape
Child molestation
Obscene phone calls
Psychological standards for determining the
harmfulness of sexual behaviors
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Issues of coercion
Potential harm to oneself or others
Personal distress
Authors’ Standard

The authors of the text believe that the basic
standard for judging various sexual activities is:
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Whether they are between consenting adults
Whether they cause harm
It is up to the individual to evaluate the ethical or
moral aspect of behavior in accordance with his
or her values.
 “Because everyone’s sexuality does not
completely overlap with the norm, the only
liberating approach is to envision it with some
perspective of variation”
End of Chapter 01